DANIEL SCOTT LAMONT was born on his family’s farm in Cortland County, New York,
on 9 February 1851; attended Union College at Schenectady, New York, but did
not graduate; was employed as engrossing clerk and assistant journal clerk in
the state capitol at Albany; was a clerk on the staff of the Democratic state
central committee, 1872; was chief clerk of the New York department of state,
1875–1882; was employed on and later acquired a financial interest in the Albany
Argus, 1877–1882; was assigned by his mentor, Daniel Manning, to New York
Governor Grover Cleveland’s staff as a political prompter; became private and
military secretary with the rank of colonel on the governor’s staff, 1883; was
appointed private secretary to President Cleveland, 1885; was employed by William
C. Whitney in his business ventures, 1889; served as Secretary of War, 5 March
1893–5 March 1897; urged throughout his tenure the adoption of a three-battalion
infantry regiment as a part of a general modernization and strengthening of
the Army; recommended the construction of a central hall of records to house
Army archives; urged that Congress authorize the marking of important battlefields
in the manner adopted for Antietam; recommended that lands being used by Apache
prisoners at Fort Sill be acquired for their permanent use and their prisoner
status be terminated; was vice president of the Northern Pacific Railway Company,
1898–1904; was a director of numerous banks and corporations; died in Millbrook,
Dutchess County, New York, on 23 July 1905.

The Artist

Samantha Littlefield Huntley (1865–1949) was born in Watervliet, New York.
She studied under John Twachtman and Henry Mowbray at the Art Students League
in New York, 1893–1897, then pursued her studies in Paris at the Académie
Julien, École des Beaux Arts, and École Normale d’Enseignement
du Dessin, 1897–1900. Mrs. Huntley’s portrait of Secretary Lamont, executed
from a photograph in 1912 some seven years after his death, was presented to
the department by Mrs. Lamont with a request that it replace one painted from
life by Raimundo de Madrazo, which Mrs. Lamont thought was not a good likeness.